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The research targeted preservice teacher education programs (as opposed to inservice education) because the vast majority of teachers in the United States are certified through approved, undergraduate teacher education programs (Roth & Pipho, 1990). Making changes at the preservice level would therefore reach the greatest number of future teachers.
The study had several components. In the first stage, the team reviewed state teacher certification requirements and identified states that mandated teachers to obtain skills and knowledge related to parent and family involvement. From this information, they selected two teacher education programs from 22 states and collected information on content and methods. For the final stage, researchers conducted case studies of selected programs.
State certification. Almost all states develop teacher certification requirements and have program approval standards. Most also require that teachers graduate from a state-approved program to receive certification to teach in the public schools (Clark & McNergney, 1990). Therefore, the research reviewed teacher certification materials (for both early childhood and K-12 teachers) from the 50 states and the District of Columbia.
The review documented any mention of parent involvement, families, and related topics. Twenty-two states met this criterion.
Two researchers coded this information according to seven categories: General Parent Involvement; General Family Knowledge; Home-School Communication; Parents Helping Children Learn at Home; Families Supporting Schools (e.g., Volunteering); Schools Supporting Families (e.g., After-school programs, social service related assistance); and Parent Decision Making. After the initial coding, the researchers compared their results, discussed differences in coding (85% agreement), and then resolved any disagreements to achieve coding consistency.
Survey of teacher education programs. The survey of teacher education programs included at least two programs from each of the 22 states that were identified as having certification requirements that related to parent involvement.
The selection of these programs was based on two criteria: (1) each program was a state-approved, undergraduate program that prepared teachers for either the early childhood and/or K-12 level (as listed in the 1991 NASDTEC Manual); and (2) the program was among those that granted the largest number of bachelor's degrees in education for the 1990-1991 academic year (as listed by the National Center for Education Statistics). This resulted in 26 early childhood programs and 34 K-12 programs. Some universities had both early childhood and K-12 programs, and thus were surveyed twice in the study.
To identify an appropriate faculty member or administrator to participate in the study, researchers sent letters to the deans of education at each institution. The letter described the study and noted that a researcher would be calling within a week to request the name of a person at the school of education who would be most appropriate to participate in the study. During these follow-up telephone calls, researchers answered the deans' questions about the study, recorded contact information about the selected respondent (in most cases a faculty member), and asked the deans to inform the respondents that they would be receiving a survey in the near future.
As respondents were identified, researchers mailed the surveys with a cover letter explaining the study. The respondent was asked to collect the information using the survey forms, after which the information would be taken over the telephone. This strategy permitted the researchers to explain any ambiguities in the survey and maximize the accuracy and amount of information received from respondents. The letter also mentioned that the interviewers would ask some open-ended questions at the end of the survey. The respondent was asked to set aside 30 minutes to an hour to participate in the study, and to expect a phone call to set up an interview time. Repeated follow-up phone calls to respondents resulted in a final sample of 58 teacher education programs (25 early childhood and 33 K-12 programs), with a response rate of 96.7 percent. Only one respondent did not participate in the study. Because this person had been asked to give information about both the early childhood and K-12 programs, the research team was unable to obtain data for two programs, both of which were at the same institution.
After the interview was scheduled, a researcher called the respondent to collect the survey information and conduct open-ended questions. The researcher wrote down all survey information and interview data on a series of data collection forms. The respondent was thanked for participating in the study and was sent a thank you letter. After the study was completed and preliminary results were obtained, the respondent was also sent a copy of the study results.
During the phone interview, researchers collected program information for the 1991-1992 academic year. Program information included information about the respondent (e.g., academic background, number of years at the university, and current area of focus); general program information (e.g., demographics of student body, number of students in program, and areas of concentration offered); ways in which the program met state certification requirements in parent involvement; ways in which parent involvement was addressed in the curriculum (e.g., coursework, workshops, seminars, student teaching, and field experiences); and any plans to increase, decrease, or maintain the level of parent involvement training over the following five years.
The information was summarized into three areas: (1) types of parent involvement training offered; (2) methods used to teach parent involvement; and (3) places in which parent involvement is taught (e.g., required coursework, field experiences, optional workshops, etc.). T-tests were conducted to determine if there were significant differences between early childhood and K-12 programs in these three areas. Finally, researchers performed a content analysis on responses to the open-ended questions about each program's plan for parent involvement training over the following five years.
Case studies. In 1994, the research team selected nine teacher education programs for more in-depth cases studies. Programs were identified from the original survey and from nominations by key informants who were involved in research in parent involvement and teacher education. These programs met four criteria. Each program: (1) focused on family involvement as part of the preservice curriculum; (2) adopted new methods about teaching and learning about family involvement (focusing on a hands-on rather than a traditional lecture approach); (3) promoted progressive approaches to family involvement (e.g., focusing on family strengths, incorporating family support, and stressing strong collaborations between home and school); and (4) demonstrated a focus on several areas of parent involvement, rather than just one narrow focus.
To develop these cases, respondents for these nine programs were interviewed by telephone. The research team also examined syllabi and course materials from each program.
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